Germany's local Pirate Party gave a German Chancellor Angela Merkel a scare and then a chuckle on Tuesday during Chancellor Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party campaign rally in the city of Dresden. (Germany votes in a national election on Sept. 22.)

To protest the EU's use of surveillance drones -- including a recently shuttered local program that cost German taxpayers 500M € ($667.8M USD) -- a Pirate operator flew a small unmanned drone over the crowd up to the podium where the Chancellor was speaking.

The drone appeared to take photos and video of the chancellor, who cracked a smile at the unusual sight. Her defense minister to her left (in the right of the image) looked not so amused. The super serious defense minister's face was locked in a severe frown at the sight.

Eventually police sighted the operator, and took him into custody, leading the drone to crash harmlessly. The 23-year-old pilot was briefly detained, but was released. No charges have been filed yet.

Chancellor Merkel is surprised by a Pirate Party drone guest. [Image Source: TorrentFreak]

Markus Barenhoff, vice chairman of the German Pirate Party, comments, "The objective of the mission was to convey to the Chancellor and Minister of Defence Thomas de Maizière what it’s like to be suddenly observed from a drone."

The reformist German Pirate party has little in the way of campaign cash, but its guerilla campaign tactics managed to score 2.0 percent of the vote in recent national elections -- the most of any chapter of the Pirate Party. Many Pirate Party politicians have been elected to local offices in Germany, although Germany has put forth no Pirate Party reps (yet) as the Swedish chapter has.

Regardless of what you might think, the US is still the richest most powerful nation in history (declining, yes, but still on top for now). Right now today, it also has the most powerful military that has ever existed. I am just saying the US president is more of a target than leaders of other countries and for that reason, something like this wouldn't and couldn't be allowed in the USA.

You will notice that it was not quite tolerated since the "pilot" got arrested. However he got released quickly when they determine that there was no actual risk as opposed to what would happen in our own zero-tolerance/punishment oriented society.

I think that it says more about the us than anything. We certainly like to bash people we do not like.

"You will notice that it was not quite tolerated since the "pilot" got arrested. However he got released quickly when they determine that there was no actual risk"

OK, lets put that scenario in play here in the USA. A guy flys a drone right up to the US pres. at an event. The SS quickly finds and detains him and quickly realizes he is just a smart-ass with a drone that poses no threat at all so they let him off easy. What happens next? I will tell you what happens next. Over the next year, 30 guys fly drones right up to the US pres. at events. Eventually someone that is a real threat catches on and uses the same tactic with explosives. You simply cannot do it here. The US prez is too much of a target. The German chancellor is not.